The present invention comprises a new Verbena, botanically known as Verbena×hybrida, and hereinafter referred to by the variety name ‘Plufrena’.
‘Plufrena’ is a product of a planned breeding program. The new cultivar has bold red-purple colored flowers with lighter centers, medium green foliage, medium sized creeping and trailing plant habit with good branching and is early to flower.
‘Plufrena’ originated from a open pollinated hybridization made in summer of 2004 in a controlled breeding environment in Enkhuizen, Netherlands. The female parent was the unpatented, proprietary plant designated ‘E0723-6’ with purple flowers, fewer flowers and has less seed set.
The male parent of ‘Plufrena’ was an unpatented proprietary plant designated as ‘G1368-1’ with smaller deep rose flowers, with foliage with fewer incisions. The resultant seed was sown in February 2005.
‘Plufrena’ was selected as one flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross in the August 2005 in a controlled environment in Enkhuizen, Netherlands.
The first act of asexual reproduction of ‘Plufrena’ was accomplished when vegetative cuttings were propagated from the initial selection in August 2005 in a controlled environment in Enkhuizen, Netherlands.